POT ORDINANCE DRAWS COMMUNITY IRE

Despite Being Shamed, City Votes to Regulate Marijuana Grows

A medical marijuana patient shamed the Rocklin City Council after the
unanimous approval of the city's new ordinance to regulate the
cultivation of medical marijuana.

"Shame on you," Rocklin resident Chris Novak shouted after the Dec.
14 public vote.

The new ordinance bans outdoor cultivation of marijuana plants of any
size and describes it as a public nuisance. After the final reading
of the ordinance, it will now be unlawful for anyone owning, leasing,
occupying or having charge or possession of a parcel within the city
limit to allow the premises to be used for outdoor cultivation of marijuana.

Novak told the council during the meeting that he suffers from
chronic pain from knee surgery and pleaded with them not to ban
outdoor cultivation in the city.

"It takes a lot of space, a lot of plant and a lot of material to
create enough cannabis necessary for an edible medication," Novak said.

He said he grows nearly 500 plants a year and still has to buy more
to meet his medical needs. The ordinance would restrict indoor pot
grows to an area of 50 square feet with a limit of 10 feet high and
not be visible from the window while using lights that do not exceed
1,200 watts.

"It takes at least three rooms in an interior grow. You are going to
have to run four 1, 000-watt lights," Novak said. "With the rates of
electricity in the Rocklin area, you are looking at $1,200 to $1,400
a month to grow your medical marijuana. That's impossible. Most
people who need this can't even get out of bed in the morning."

Lanette Davies, who represents Crusaders for Patients Rights, said
she came to the council to speak for 199 Rocklin citizens who use
medical marijuana.

"We do need ordinances, we're not objecting to that," Davies said.
"To say no outdoor cultivation - that's something that's stopping
somebody from taking care of themselves."

Davies pointed out a clause in the ordinance that she says it is
illegal due to a recent appellate court decision in Butte County. The
Rocklin clause states, "the authorized grower shall reside in the
residence where the marijuana cultivation occurs and shall not
participate in marijuana cultivation in any other residential
location within the city."

"That's illegal," Davies said.

The council went ahead with the vote even though Councilman Peter
Hill inquired about the conflict and City Attorney Russell Hildebrand
offered to brief the council on the case.

"We're more than willing to work with staff on this issue. We want to
see it done correctly so that it is safe for our community and safe
for our patients," Davies said.

Hilldebrand said the purpose of the ordinance was to get rid of a nuisance.

"We have a lot of two-story houses and fairly small lot lines,"
Hildebrand said. "People look out their bedroom window and see a
large marijuana grow and they worry about the circumstances and
sometimes things happen. We bring it indoors, it is out of sight.
That's one way to eliminate those impacts. We're not trying to say
only the patient must live in the house where the marijuana is grown.
We just don't want to have a pot house."

Patients can be granted another 50-square-feet of space indoors if
they ask the city for an exception. Joy Cole, a cancer survivor and
patient rights advocate from Sac Patients, complained the city
doesn't understand the issue from the patient's point of view.

"I would request that y'all learn more about it," Cole told the
council. "We're bordering on discriminatory."

Vice Mayor Brett Storey deflected the notion that the council wasn't
making a careful decision.

"While you've given us some compelling things to think about, we also
have a large number of citizens who don't want to see marijuana grown
in the outdoors," Storey said. "It does often grow higher than fence
lines. We have quite a large population of children living in this
town. What we may vote on may seem without thought to you, but we
have struggled with how to implement an ordinance that is as fair as
we can make it."

Mayor George Magnuson said enacting the new ordinance doesn't mean
the issue is over.

"It doesn't mean that things won't be revisited in the future," Magnuson said.

The city already bans commercial medical marijuana dispensaries in
the city limit.